Trace Pushed John Rich for Apprentice

‘I felt like a proud father’ after John’s win."

Celebrity Apprentice runner-up Trace Adkins wasn’t one bit jealous that John Rich was the first country singer to win it all on Donald Trump’s reality show.

In fact, Trace told reporters at the CMA Music Festival, “I felt like a proud father.”

Turns out that Trace told show producers to go get John Rich. “John asked me why, and I said, ‘I’m not gonna give you any more ammunition for you to have more of an ego than you already have,'” Trace said, sparking big laughs in the pressroom. “I just knew he would do what they needed. I was right.”